OPINION
Liverpool are in the market for a big-money attacker this summer as they look to reinvest the £142million received from the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.
It did look like they had found their man in Lyon star Nabil Fekir, with the two sides seemingly agreeing a deal before a last-minute change of heart from the Reds saw the agreement fall through.
Since then the club have been linked with several big-name attacking stars, but none more so than Real Madrid winger Marco Asensio.
Depending on who you believe the Reds have reportedly submitted a huge bid for the 22-year-old, who is currently at the World Cup with Spain, and it will certainly be interesting to see how this one pans out in the coming weeks.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Real Madrid have already rejected Liverpool’s opening offer of £158million, with the newspaper claiming the jet-heeled youngster has ‘no price’.
It is stated here that Asensio has no intention of leaving Real, who have always seen him as a future star since buying him from Mallorca in 2015.
Another report in Marca claims however that Asensio is eyeing up a more important role at Madrid before considering his options, with talks scheduled for later in the summer.
Whatever the truth of the situation, the fact is that Liverpool’s interest in Asensio is highly likely to go absolutely nowhere.
Real view Asensio as a future star of the club, and the emphatic response detailed in the Mundo Deportivo report shows that the club will not even consider a sale at that price.
Reports suggest that Asensio’s release clause stands at around £617million, and that just illustrates the size of the task which is facing the Reds if they want to try and prise him away from the Bernabeu.
All that is going to happen is the club will dedicate time and resources to a deal which will not happen, and in the process the club will likely miss out on other, more attainable targets.
Admittedly you must take risks in the transfer market to progress, but this does not look like a risk, just a futile attempt to make a a mark in what will inevitably be football’s biggest transfer window yet.
Liverpool must therefore bin their interest in Asensio sooner rather than later, and apply themselves to deals which actually have a small chance of happening.
